If found in violation of the FTC guidelines, Spencer Noren could face up to $50,120 per violation

Spencer Noren, also known as Ventura Forward online, has gained over 47,000 Instagram followers. He also runs a business along with his wife, Melyssa Noren, called  Yo Social Media, which provides a partnership with the Ventura Forward social media account. These paid partnerships may violate FTC regulations for failing to adequately disclose an advertisement in which he has a financial, personal, or familial relationship with the business, as well as illegally entering into contracts with customers.

The Yo Social Media service was filed in October 2017, under Mrs. Noren’s name. Originally, Yo Social Media was run as an SMMA (Social Media Marketing Agency) for local businesses, providing services for social media and website creation. We reached out to Mrs. Noren via email, which we believe is not in use and was confirmed by Mr. Noren to not be in use anymore. When we asked Mr. Noren to forward a message to his wife about a possible interview request, he said, “What do you need to know about the company? I can answer any questions !??” and “You got it. That’s it. There isn’t more to it.”

In January 2022, the Yo Social LLC (Limited liability company) received an FTB (Franchise Tax Board) suspension, and in August 2022, Yo Social made its last social media post on Instagram. In January 2025, they filed a statement of information changing the address linked to the LLC to another address. FTB suspensions are given out to LLC’s for many reasons, such as failure to file Statement of Information, failure to file form 568, and the most common failure to pay the $800 annual tax. The specific details of the FTB suspension are not known to the public.

After receiving an FTB suspension, you cannot legally operate, open any new contracts, or sell assets. While yosocialmedia.com’s home page still shows that they offer services like content production, website creation, and other services, on the “services” tab, the only offering is a partnership with Ventura Forward, Mrs. Noren’s husband’s Instagram page. Providing services like story mentions, interactions, collaborations and podcast mentions. These services are paid and cost between $250 and $2500, depending on what tier you choose. According to www.venturaforward.org, Mr. Noren’s website, they have grown to include 12 partners such as Fire Island Grill, Ivy Lawn Memorial Park, Pizza Chief, and others. In an interview by the Cougar Press done September 2025, Mr. Noren showed us the Yo Social website and how to select and sign up for his services, showing that the services were still available. As of May 2026, anyone can go onto the Yo Social website, pay, and enter a contract with the Yo Social LLC. If Yo Social and Ventura Forward hold up their end of the contract and keep the payment, that would be against the law, and the LLC holder could receive repercussions such as loss of Liability Protections, fines up to $2000 per tax year and the inability to enforce contracts.

Ventura Forward’s Instagram account (offering partnerships with Yo Social) could also face fines due to not declaring paid partnerships. According to the FTC website, “The disclosure should be placed with the endorsement message itself…If your endorsement is in a picture on a platform like Snapchat and Instagram Stories, superimpose the disclosure over the picture and make sure viewers have enough time to notice and read it…If making an endorsement in a video, the disclosure should be in the video and not just in the description uploaded with the video.” 

Mr. Noren may violate many of these terms stated above. When asked, Mr. Noren responded, “Each month, I’m posting a list of sponsors, meaning businesses that pay money for paid advertising.” Paul Iniguez ‘26 said, “I did not know he was getting paid at all. I kind of, honestly, thought he was doing it for free.” Curren Stewart 27’ a student at FTHS said “I can’t tell when its a paid video I just thought he was promoting them”